Wednesday, December 11, 2013

This one amazing tool will completely change the way you train!

Change up your game! Using branching scenario games to add engaging challenges to your training curriculum.



Branching scenarios are a great way to teach thought processes, behavior, or communication skills, and to show the consequences of choices, all while playing an immersive, challenging, and realistic game.

In order to be successful, the scenario should be realistic and complex, should have a series of cascading choices, and should support two or more choices that appear equally valid for each scene.

Branching Scenarios are so much fun to make and so exciting for the learner that you’ll want to immediately convert all your existing topics into the format.
 The only bad news about Branching Scenarios is that they aren’t a good match for all topics. Like aged cheese, the films of Quentin Tarantino, and opera, they are only for certain audiences.

They work very well for nuanced situations like cultural integration, ethical choices, conversations where word choices are key (such a sales and performance coaching) and customer service interactions that are “off-script”.

I have found through experimentation that this game doesn’t really work to teach fact-based topics, such as “how-to” or “tips”. The end result is very flat with the choices being very obviously right or wrong—no real challenge for the player.

The best fit for Branching Scenarios is a very specific situation where a series of decisions must be made, and these decisions lead to consequences.

You need:

1: A situation that is real, complex, detailed, and specific.
“An irate customer” is the right direction, but we need the same level of detail an associate faces on the floor– account history, product specs, scripting, and tools.

2.  The common mistakes or errors made during the process, and the consequences of same.
If we are teaching our learners to make nuanced choices about sharing confidential documents, get your SME to tell you what happens when an internal power point is leaked, and then write that into your scenario.

3.   A clear, actionable goal.
 “Awareness” or “compliance” is simply not enough.
What specific steps, behaviors, scripts, or actions does the employee need to demonstrate, and how will we know they are being done? Drill down deep to get the real performance objective to build a successful scenario game.

Resource Guide for Branching Scenarios
This blog is an incredible warehouse of gems on e-learning, instructional design, graphic design, and how to use PowerPoint and Articulate to your best advantage.
This blog will change the way you think about creating training materials. Highly recommended!!
Cathy Moore’s exceptional game. Use as inspiration for where we can go with our Branching Scenario Games!
Branching Scenario Game tool.

So get out there and start branchin'!!


No comments:

Post a Comment